Folkmusikens formalisering

Några synpunkter med exempel från Dalarna

Abstract

The formalization of folk music. Some remarks with examples from Dalarna, Sweden.
This article contains a discussion concerning formalization as a characteristic trait in today´s folk music. It has its beginning in some words by the English historian Eric Hobsbawn, who in his well-spread book about “the invention of tradition” states that most “traditions” in the modern society represent “a process of formalization and ritualization, characterized by references of the past, if only by imposing repetition” (1988:4). Formalization in this respect could be defined as a process, in which musical actions and expressions are specified in writings. It is often a question of fixation, that results in a reduced number of interpretations. The process of formalization has four levels:
1. The building of organizations. The folk music scene in Sweden and many other western countries is crowded with organizations – for musicians, for promoting folk music, for arranging folk music-events.
2. Becoming a folk musician is today associated with membership in a fiddlers´ club or something similar.
3. Practising folk music is more and more done in fixed ensembles.
4. The musical material is more often found in books or records, which reduces the available repertory.

The process of formalization has another effect: it makes the music and the practising of music more visible. In today´s world, the visibility is very important. According to Mark Slobin (1990) is it a requirement for transfering the music between different levels:
the local, the regional and the transregional. These shifts are typical for the development of folk music i the modern world and in some respects they are founded upon the process of formalization.